ranney



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

F. E. RANNEY.

REFRIGERATOR.

190.594,159. Patented Nov. 23,1897.

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No. 594,159. Patented Nov. 23e,v 1897.

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FRED E. RANNEY, OFv GREENVILLE, MICHIGAN, ASSIGN OR TO THE RAN N EY REERIGERATOR COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

REFRIGERATOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 594,159, dated November 23, 1897.

Application filed October 15,1896. Serial No. 608,994. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FRED E. RANNEY, of Greenville, in the county of Montcalm and State of Michigan, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Refrigerators; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and eXact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

yThis invention relates to improvements in dry-air refrigerators in which the arrangement and construction are such as to secure a continuous circulation ofair from the icechamber to the provision-chamber and back again to the ice-chamber without any condensation of moisture within or upon the walls of said provision-chamber, so that the atmosphere of the latter is maintained cold and dry.

The invention relates more specifically to that class of refrigerators known as domestic or household refrigerators, for use by small families,in which are temporarily stored the various articles or provisions of a household cuisine, in order that the temperature thereof may be maintained-at any given point. Such refrigerators are commonly of relatively limited capacity, both because of the fact of the limited space which can be set aside for such use and the further fact that refrigerators of large capacity are not commonly required by medium or small sized households.

Refrigerators of this character have usually been constructed in the form of a rectangular box or casing, with an ice-chamber located in the upper part and the lower part constituting the provision-chamber, within which the articles to be stored are placed. This provisioncompartment has sometimes been dividedinto two compartments by means of a vertical partition located intermediateof the ends of the boX and rigidly secured to the front and rear walls thereof at the points of juncture, thereby making two separate and distinct provision-chambers in the one outside case, one of which can be used for general household purposes and the other be kept locked,

5o if desired. While this central partition is necessary in devices of the character referred to, yet it is frequently desirable in the domestic refrigerators to store within the refrigerator an article of such dimensions as to make it impossible to be accommodated by either compartment-as, for instance,an eXtra large watermelon or the like-owing to the fact of the partition not being removable. In the manufacture and sale of refrigerators I have found it very desirable, therefore, that refrigerators of the character in question should be so constructed as to permit of the two provision-compartments being thrown together into one simply by the removal of the intermediate partition. This result is secured by providing the opposite walls of the casing with parallel vertical cleats, preferably of angle-iron, and so arranged as to form between them a groove within which the opposite edges of the partition are adapted to rest. One or both of said cleats will be removably secured to the walls of the casing, so that by detaching the same the partition may be removed laterally from its position and withdrawn from the provision-chamber. The cleats will be provided with means by which they may be quickly and easily attached to and detached from said walls, so that the work of removing the partition will require but a moments time.

'To this end, therefore, the invention consists in the novel devices and combination of devices hereinafter described, and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims, and will be more readily understood by reference to Athe accompanying drawings, in which* Figure l is a vertical sectional elevation of a refrigerator provided with my invention. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section taken on the line 2 2 of Fig. l, showing in full lines the improved partition and in dotted lines the manner of removingthe same. Fig. -3 is a diagrammatic View showing in top plan my improved partition and the means for removably securing it in place. Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view showing in front elevation the securing-cleats in their proper relation to each other to receive the sliding partition. Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the ice-chamber IOO removed from the refrigerator. Fig. 6 is a vertical sectional elevation of another form of refrigerator provided with my invention, or one in which the ice-chamber is not removable. Fig. 7 is a horizontal section taken on line 7 7 of Fig. (i, showing one of the doors opened and the manner in which the partition is removed. Fig. 8 is a fragmentary view showing in elevation the cleats in their proper relation and the removable partition in section and also the manner of detachably securing one of the cleats in place. Fig. 9 is a perspective view of one of the removable cleats.

In said drawings, A A designate the front and back walls of the refrigerator, A2 A2 its side walls, and A3 A4 the bottom and top thereof. Said walls are rigidly secured together to form a rectangular box or chest, and said walls are preferably made of two separate thicknesses of wood and provided with a space between them for a filling a of any suitable non-conducting material. The top A4 is hinged to the wall A of the chest to aiford access to the ice-chamber B, and the front wall A is provided with doors A5 A5 in the usual manner to afford access to the lower part of the chest, which forms the provision-chamber C of the refrigerator.

I-I designates a drip-pipe leading from the ice-chamber down through the rear part of the chest and through the bottom A3 to conduct off the drip in the usual manner.

The ice and provision chambers are herein show-n as provided throughout with a lining I, of Zinc or suitable metal, as common with refrigerators of this class.

In Figs. l, 2, 3, 4, and the invention is illustrated as applied to a refrigerator having a removable ice-chamber of that class shown and described in Letters Patent of the United States No. 548,818, issued to me on the 29th day of October, 1895, in which the said icechamber may be bodily removed through the iop of the chest and the interior of the provision-chamber directly exposed therethrough. Fig. 5 represents a side elevation of such icechamber removed from the refrigerator, and which normally rests within the upper part of the chest upon horizontal ledges secured in any suitable manner to the side and end walls of the refrigerator. Describing the construction illustrated in said figures, D D designate wooden strips of rectangular shape in crosssection vertically secured one to the rear wall A of the chest and the other to the front wall thereof equidista-nt from the end walls A2 A2, the strip att-ached to the front wall A being secured to that portion of said wall forming the doorjamb and against which the free edges of the doors A5 A5 rest when in their closed position. Said strips are of suflicient length to extend from the bottom wall A3 to the underside of the ice-chamber. DD designate metallic angle-bars, each consisting of a central web cl, having on one side an integral flange d', bent at right angles thereto, and

r Y y on the other side a similar flange cl2, bent also at right angles to said central web, so as to stand in a plane parallel with the plane of the `flange CZ', but extending in the opposite direction. Said angle-bars Dl are of a length equal to the length of the ,strips D and are adapted t-o be secured to said strips one on each side thereof in such manner that the flanges d lie in contact with the edges of the lstrip and the web d in contact with the outer surfaces t-hereof, the flanges d2 extending outwardly at right angles from said strip. The combined width of the webs CZ of the anglebars D' are less than the width of the strip D, so that the outer surface of said strip is not covered between the proximate faces of the flanges d2. IVhen the angle-bars are secured to the vertical strips D on either side by screws or otherwise in the manner described, oppositely-facing channels d3 di are provided, within which are to be inserted the opposite edges of a removable partition E. Said partition consists of a plate of sheet metal, preferably zinc, of a width equal to approximately the distance between the outer faces of the vertical strips D and of a height equal to the distance between the floor A3 of the provision-chamber and the under surface of the removable ice-chamber B. Said plate may consist of a plain sheet of metal, but is herein shown as corrugated to give greater lateral strength, the corrugations extending vertically thereof, but with its extreme outer edges lying in a plane coincident with the general line of direction of said plate. The plate thus described is positioned within the chamber C, with its outer edges resting in the grooves o`r channels d3, thus completely separating the two chambers so formed and providing a partition equal in all respects to the permanent partitions heretofore made, but which may be removed when desired, and the provision-chamber thereby enlarged to accommodate articles which could not be accommodated before said partition was removed. The webs CZ of the anglebars D on each side of the chamber C are provided at suitable intervals with oppositely-facin g apertures d4, within which are secured the opposite ends of supportingbars F, upon which rest provision-shelves G. The opposite ends of said provision-shelves rest upon and are supported by similar rods F, secured to vcrtical cleats provided in the opposite side walls of the chamber C.

In a refrigerator constructed as described it will be obvious that should it be desirable for any reason to enlarge the capacity of the provision-chambers it will only be necessary to remove the ice-chamber and lift the partition F. bodily upward therefrom, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. l.

In Figs. 6, 7, 8, and 9 my invention is shown as applied to a refrigerator having a permanent or non-removable ice-chamber. In said gures, B designates the ice-chamber, pro vided with the usual ice-rack B2 and deflccd IOO IIO

tor-plate B3, and provided in its end walls, near the top thereof, with air-ports b, affording communication between the ice-chamber and warm-air flow C', leading from the provision-chamber.

As will be obvious, the partition cannot be removed from a refrigerator of the character just described in the manner as set forth in connection with the construction previouslyv described, but said partition must be removed through, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 7, ope of the front doors. Such removal is provided for by detachably securing one of the angle-bars D' (the left-hand one is so illustrated in the present instance) to the vertical strip D, so that it may easily and quickly be removed therefrom to allow the adjacent edge of the partition G to pass and the partition to be removed. In some instances it will be desirable that both angle-bars D' on either side of the partition be thus detachably secured to permit of removal; but in case the groove or channel formed between the bars Dl are relatively shallow it will be obviously necessary to remove but one bar, and the other may be permanently secured, as in the construction previously described. Means for detachably securing said bars are provided as follows: bb designate apertured studs projecting at right angles from the vertical strips D at either end thereof and near the edge of said strip toward which it is desired to remove the partition. The angle-bar on this side of said strip is provided with slots adapted to receive the studs bwhen in position on the strip D. Retaining-pins h3 are then passed through the apertures in the studs b2, and the bar is thus securely locked from outward movement, but may be easily and quickly removed by merely withdrawing the pins b3 from their sockets.

It is to be understood that while the permanently-secured angle-bars cannot be used with a construction provided with a permanent ice-chamber, yet it may be desirable to use the detachable bars with a construction having a removable ice-chamber, as it mayl frigerators where convenience is often sacritically secured in pairs to the front and rear walls of the provision-chambers, means for detachably securing one or more of the angle-irons in place, and a vertical partition secured between each pair of angle-irons,where by by the removal of one or more of the angleirons, the partition may be released and the two provision-chambers thrown into one, substantially as described.

3. In a domestic refrigerator, the combination with an ice-compartment above and two provision-compartments below, of a removable partition arranged to separate the provision-compartments,cleats arranged in pairs at the front and rear for the purpose of securing the front and rear margins of said partition, and means for detachably securing one or more of the cleats in position, comprising a slot, as b2, through the cleats, an apertured lug, as U, extending from the wall of the refrigerator and adapted to pass through the slots in the cleats and lockingpins, as b3, substantially as specified.

4:. In a domestic refrigerator, the combination of an ice-chamber above and two provision-chambers below, of cleats arranged in pairs and removably secured to the front and rear walls respectively, vertically-arranged recesses between each pair of cleats and a partition between the provision-chambers and 4resting in said recesses, said partition consisting of a corrugated plate of sheet metal, or other material, substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as FRED E. RANNEY.

Witnesses:

WM. H. BROWNE, W. D. JOHNSON.

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